Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) has appointed Sarah Parker as interim Group Managing Director, succeeding Patrick Wood who has stepped down from the role in order to pursue a new position.
Sarah Parker has been part of SSTL’s team since 1997 and joined the Board of Directors in 1999 with responsibilities for corporate strategy and directing the company’s Financial Division. During the past 20 years at SSTL, Sarah has helped steer the business to achieve growth from a £5m turnover UK based company to a £100m turnover international group of companies.
Eight of SSTL’s ten Directors, from left to right, top row: Martin Pointer, Anita Bernie, Ben Stocker, Sir Martin Sweeting, Rob Goddard, Marie Wallis, Sarah Parker and Luis Gomes.
Before joining SSTL, Sarah worked for Coopers and Lybrand, where she qualified as a Chartered Accountant, and then for KPMG, where she specialized in advising owner-managed and high technology businesses. In 1994, she established her own consulting business providing advisory services to organizations seeking ways to improve their business performance.
Sir Martin Sweeting, the Executive Chairman of SSTL, said “I wish to thank Patrick Wood for driving the company forward and overseeing such achievements as the launch of the DMC3/TripleSat Constellation in 2015, the teaming with Urthecast for a dual optical/radar constellation, and the delivery of 22 payloads for Galileo. We are very fortunate that Sarah, with her wealth of experience in the space industry, is stepping into the role of interim MD at SSTL as we look ahead into the era of ‘NewSpace’, with exciting opportunities that we are well-positioned to exploit.”
Sarah Parker said, “As I take up the reins at SSTL I will continue to focus on forging strong partnerships with our collaborators and customers and delivering innovative space engineering and business solutions that enable first class Earth Observation and Telecommunications missions, at a price the customers can afford.”
